Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PITILESS FATE, by ALICE CARY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PITILESS FATE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw in my dream a wonderful stream
Last Line: And lady and lover, and all together.
Subject(s): Fate; Destiny


I SAW in my dream a wonderful stream,
And over the stream was a bridge so slender,
And over the white there was scarlet light,
And over the scarlet a golden splendor.

And beyond the bridge was a goodly ridge
Where bees made honey and corn was growing,
And down that way through the gold and gray
A gay young man in a boat was rowing.

I could see from the shore that a rose he wore
Stuck in his button-hole, rare as the rarest,
And singing a song and rowing along,
I guessed his face to be fair as the fairest.

And all by the corn where the bees at morn
Made combs of honey -- with breathing bated,
I saw by the stream (it was only a dream)
A lovely lady that watched and waited.

There were fair green leaves in her silken sleeves,
And loose her locks in the winds were blowing,
And she kissed to land with her milk-white hand
The gay young man in the boat a-rowing.

And all so light in her apron white
She caught the little red rose he cast her,
And, "Haste!" she cried, with her arms so wide,
"Haste, sweetheart, haste!" but the boat was past her.

And the gray so cold ran over the gold,
And she sighed with only the winds to hear her --
"He loves me still, and he rowed with a will,
But pitiless Fate, not he, was steerer!"

And there till the morn blushed over the corn,
And over the bees in their sweet combs humming,
Her locks with the dew drenched through and through
She watched and waited for her false love's coming!

But the maid to-day who reads my lay
May keep her young heart light as a feather --
It was only a dream, the bridge and the stream,
And lady and lover, and all together.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net